Imad Mugniyah, Iranian operative and leader of Hezbollah’s military wing, was killed in Damascus, Syria. Click image to view.

Imad Mugniyah, the leader of Hezbollah’s military wing and a senior officer in Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed in yesterday’s car bombing in Damascus, Syria. Mugniyah was behind multiple terror attacks against US, Israel, and other nations, and most famously the 1983 Beirut suicide attacks which killed 241 US Marines and 58 French paratroopers. Hezbollah has confirmed Mugniyah’s death, and has issued the following statement:

With pride and honor, we announce the martyrdom of a great resistance leader who joined the procession of Islamic Resistance martyrs. After a life full of Jihad, sacrifices and accomplishments lived with a longing to martyrdom, Islamic Resistance leader Hajj Imad Mugniyah (Hajj Radwan) was assassinated by “Israeli” criminal hands. The martyr, may his soul rest in peace, had been a target for the Zionists for more than 20 years. Almighty Allah has chosen him to be a martyr on the hands of His Prophet’s killers who know that we have a long battle with them and the blood of martyrs especially our leaders has always taken our resistance to a higher and stronger level, just like when our two great leaders, Sheikh Ragheb Harb and Sayyed Abbas Moussawi were martyred.

We pledge to continue the martyr’s path until achieving complete victory, God willing. We offer our sincere condolences to the martyr’s family and his brothers in arms and we congratulate all resistance fighters for the Divine Legion of Honor.

The culprits of the car bombing in Syria are unclear. Syria is a police state, and security would be tight for a senior Hezbollah and Qods Force leader such as Mugniyah.

Hezbollah and Iran are blaming Israel for Mugniyah’s death. “This action is yet another brazen example of organized state terrorism by the Zionist regime,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali. Israel has denied any involvement in Mugniyah’s death.

But Israel was very likely behind Mugniyah’s death. The method of assassination — by booby-trapped automobile — strongly suggests that Israel is responsible. The Jerusalem Post reported the car’s driver’s seat and the rear seat were “blown away by the force of the blast” in a well-placed bomb.

The Jerusalem Post‘s report of a well-placed car bomb seems to be confirmed by Al Jazeera reporter Abdul Hamid Tawfiq, who is reporting from Damascus. “When taking a close look at the car, we noticed that it was not burnt or blackened, but the driver’s and passengers’ seats were damaged.” Tawfiq said. He believed that a bomb had been planted under the driver’s seat.

Mugniyah began his career in terrorism in the 1970s with Force 17, the personal bodyguard detachment for Yassar Arafat, and later joined Hezbollah. His more infamous terror attacks include the April 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, killing 63; the October 1983 simultaneous truck bombings on the US Marine and French paratrooper barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines and 58 French soldiers; the hijacking of TWA 847; the kidnappings and murders of US military, intelligence and diplomatic personnel in Beirut; the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1992, killing 29 people; the bombing of a Jewish cultural center in 1994, killing 86 people. He is suspected of direct involvement in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 US servicemen. He was also behind the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers in northern Israel, the event that triggered the Israel-Hezbollah War in July 2006. Mugniyah likely played a role in the establishment of Iran’s ratlines into Iraq and the creation of the Special Groups, which have been built to mirror Hezbollah.

Mugniyah likely played a support role in al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks on the US. The 9/11 Commission Report was explicit about Iran’s connections with al Qaeda. “The relationship between al Qaeda and Iran demonstrated that Sunni-Shia divisions did not necessarily pose an insurmountable barrier to cooperation in terrorist operations.” Contacts between Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda were established in Sudan in the early 1990s. “Al Qaeda members received advice and training from Hezbollah,” according the 9/11 Commission Report. Many of al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 hijackers transited through Iran. “After 9/11, Iran and Hezbollah wished to conceal any past evidence of cooperation with Sunni terrorists associated with al Qaeda.”

Hezbollah is essentially the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Qods Force. Mugniyah is also a senior leader in Qods Force, the special operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, an expert on Hezbollah describes Mugniyah as standing “with one foot within Hezbollah (reporting to [hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah directly) and with one foot in Iran inside the architectures of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the al-Qods unit within the Iranian Pasdaran [Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps].” Dr. Ranstorp also said, “there are two Iranian representatives (from the Iranian embassy in Beirut/Damascus) that provide a direct link on matters that require strategic guidance or Iranian assistance or arbitration” to Hezbollah’s executive Shura, or council.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

After three plus decades of terror, Imad Mugniyah was killed in a car bombing in Damascus, Syria yesterday. Andy Cochran and Bill Roggio offer details on Mugniyah’s trail of death and destruction, and his own late passing. We at ThreatsWatch…

Who blew up Imad Mughniyeh? For now, my money is on the Israelis. Not only have they wanted to get Mugniyeh for over 20 years, but, in the wake of their failure in the Hizbullah War of 2006, they’ve needed

Israel’s military forces have crushed the second most dangerous man who led the Hezbollah, who was also one of the culprits in the 1983 attack on Marine HQ in Lebanon. According to this further news, he even had ties with al Qaeda:

Wait, so he was only 20 in 1983, when the Marine Baracks were bombed?
That this is not the big headline in the media is shocking. Of course, it would cause the media to admit that terrorism existed before Bush became President, which they won’t do.
So who killed Mugniyah?

1. I hope this is true.
2. If it’s true then I want to thank from the bottom of my heart those involved and hope one in the know reads this comment. You have performed a great service to the world and true justice. He was one of the most evil men alive.

Has anyone heard any more word on the possibility that there was a second fatality in the bombing. I’ve heard that Israeli news agencies are reporting that Hajj Hussein Halil, deputy director of political affairs for Hezbollah was also killed in the blast. This is still unconfirmed but Israeli National News cited this is from an Iranian report. Anyone hear anything?

Today’s killing made me think of something.
Why cant the same be done to the Taliban leadership in Quetta? It’s been said numerous times we, the Afghan government know their addresses, houses, phone numbers, hideouts etc. Would it be impossible to put a bomb in one of their cars or near their houses?

Did terrorists cause the housing mess? If so, this is even better. Top Hezbollah militant slain – Mideast-N. Africa – msnbc.com

Sometimes headlines on a homepage simply suggest a story all by their lonesome.
Link 1 – Did Terrorists cause the housing mess?
Link 2 – Top Hizbollah militant slain.
I love the poetic justice of it all. For more on the threats we face, read this cree…

Well, this is one of those breaths of fresh air that come too rarely. This is precisely the action that is needed to take these criminals out. We need to play by their rules for a while. One or two bombs in Quetta, one or two bombs in Syria and Lebanon, and these savages will have to pay a lot of attention to their own safety, distracting them considerably and using up precious resource. Let us press on with this direct action…

Another dead terrorist and the world became a better place! Too bad he got to RUN LIKE THE COWARD HE IS for so long. In the end he died running though and that says alot about all of them. It’s real easy to say you want to die in battle, but when the proof comes out as this one has after all these years this coward showed his real intentions were never to die but to try to keep getting away. What a great start to 2008 let’s keep killing terrorists!!!

“Hezbollah is essentially the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Qods Force.”–Bill Roggio
This statement is inaccurate. Hezbollah comprises social and political elements that are not branched to any foreign military service. Even the military wing of the organization contains a far greater measure of independence than outwardly comparable relationships such as that existing between the US and Columbia. Tactically, Hezbollah’s military wing is more experienced than its Pasdaran counterpart. Where this relatied experience may be reversed is in the field of weapon training, such as advanced ATGM’s and AShM’s.
There is a tendency for Western observers to frame ME adversaries in terms familiar to the previous Cold War. For the sake of accuracy, I would caution against such obvious simplicities.

Mugniyah certainly has no shortage of enemies. Israel and the US are primary enemies but moderate Arab states are on his target list as well.
Then there is the liability problem. How far does Syria want to stick its neck out for Hezbollah and Iran. Syria can’t be totally blind to the fact that any war Iran starts with Israel will be fought on Lebanese and Syrian territory. So who knows who got rid of him.